Preparing for the New Year...

Following is my revised list of "New Year's Resolutions - 1999 Edition"
RESOLUTION #1
1993: I will read at least 20 good books a year.
1994: I will read at least 10 books a year.
1995: I will read 5 books a year.
1996: I will finish The Pelican Brief
1997: I will read some articles in the newspaper this year.
1998: I will read at least one article this year.
1999: I will try and finish the comics section this year.

RESOLUTION #2
1993: I will get my weight down below 180.
1994: I will watch my calories until I get below 190.
1995: I will follow my new diet religiously until I get below 200.
1996: I will try to develop a realistic attitude about my weight.
1997: I will work out 5 days a week.
1998: I will work out 3 days a week.
1999: I will try to drive past a gym at least once a week.

RESOLUTION #5
1993: I will not spend my money frivolously.
1994: I will pay off my bank loan promptly.
1995: I will pay off my bank loans promptly.
1996: I will begin making a strong effort to be out of debt by 1999.
1997: I will be totally out of debt by 2000.
1998: I will try to pay off the debt interest by 2000.
1999: I will try to be out of the country by 2000

source unknown...

Learning From History

A father noticed that his son was spending way too much time playing computer games.
In an effort to motivate the boy into focusing more attention on his schoolwork, the father said to his son, "When Abe Lincoln was your age, he was studying books by the light of the fireplace."
The son replied, "When Lincoln was your age, he was the president of the United States."

Ho, Ho, Ho

I was taking a shower when my 2-year-old son came into the bathroom and wrapped himself in toilet paper.
Although he made a mess, he looked adorable, so I ran for my camera and took a few shots. They came out so well that I had copies made and included one with each of our Christmas cards.
Days later, a relative called about the picture, laughing hysterically, and suggesting I take a closer look. Puzzled, I stared at the photo and was shocked to discover that in addition to my son, I had captured my reflection in the mirror - wearing nothing but a camera!

source unknown (perhaps for a reason!)

Dad’s Revenge

A teenage boy had passed his driving test and inquired of his father as to when they could discuss his use of the car.
His father said he’d make a deal with his son: ’You bring your grades up from a ‘C’ to a ‘B average’, study your Bible a little, and get your hair cut. Then we’ll talk about the car.’
The boy thought about that for a moment, decided he’d settle for the offer, and they agreed on it.
After about six weeks his father said, ‘Son, you’ve brought your grades up and I’ve observed that you have been studying your Bible, but I’m disappointed you haven’t had your hair cut.
The boy said, ‘You know , Dad, I’ve been thinking about that, and I’ve noticed in my studies of the Bible that Samson had long hair and John the Baptist had long hair, Moses had long hair.......and there’s even strong evidence that Jesus had long hair.
You’re going to love the dad’s reply:
To this his father replied, ‘Did you also notice they all walked everywhere they went?’

Peaceful Tradition

Country music star Travis Tritt spent many years playing out-of-the-way joints before he made it big in the music industry. He reports that many of the bars were dangerous places, with drunk fans starting fights over the smallest matters. But Tritt found a unique way to keep the peace in such situations. He says:
"'Silent Night' proved to be my all-time lifesaver. Just when [bar fights] started getting out of hand, when bikers were reaching for their pool cues and rednecks were heading for the gun rack, I'd start playing 'Silent Night.' It could be the middle of July—I didn't care. Sometimes they'd even start crying, standing there watching me sweat and play Christmas carols."

Twang! The Ultimate Book of Country Music Quotations, compiled by Raymond Obstfeld and Sheila Burgener

The Christmas Truce

It was referred to as the war to end all wars. Yet, two decades after World War I the world found itself once again entrenched in a global battle. Why was the First World War referred to as the war to end all wars? It earned this name because it was believed that with all the modern weapons of war, no nation would dare attack another for the sure bloodshed that would follow. The destruction of the First World War was horrific with over 10 million giving their lives in the name of their country.
In the midst of this brutality, death and destruction one of the most peculiar sights in human history evolved on a Christmas night in 1914. It was a sight rarer than watching a Texas baseball team in the World Series. On this incredible night almost a century ago soldiers on the western front did the unthinkable. Only days and perhaps hours before these men had found themselves frozen to the bone in the cold rain and mud. The sound of mortars still rang in their ears. The sight of their brothers in arms falling to the ground from a volley of bullets was still fresh in their minds. Yet something remarkable was about to take place on this Christmas Eve.
It was a truce in the fighting initiated by the low ranking men selected to do the fighting and dying. By all accounts this Christmas truce was not started by the British. It was, in fact, a result of the actions of the Germans. Yes, the country that it had become easy to vilify during this time period because of their horrific leaders and government policies was in fact a nation of people with hearts like you and I. These German soldiers lobbed a chocolate cake into the trenches of the British. Imagine that; you are used to seeing grenades land in your trench and instead the enemy has lobbed a chocolate cake with a request for an hour truce. The truce was for a birthday party for their captain. The truce was granted.
As a soldier in this war, it was comforting to know that your enemy was in the same miserable conditions that you were - the cold, the mud and the stench of death. Remarkably, it was in these conditions that a truce was born and soon Christmas carols burst forth from the trenches of the Germans, once again, an olive branch. The British were at first reluctant and rightfully so, this was war and any trick is fair game in war. Although, it was recognized for what it was. Men with hearts, mums, dads, children, hobbies, girlfriends, wives and compassion overcome with that compassion on the anniversary of the greatest sacrifice in the history of mankind. It was Christmas and the anniversary of the birth of a man who laid down his life for others, and the Germans were overcome with this spirit.
That Christmas Eve soldiers who had been engaged in the war referred to as 'the war to end all wars' because of its brutality, tossed their weapons of destruction aside and embraced, sang Christmas songs and even wandered the battle field playing soccer with each other and sharing cigarettes. It has been said that hundreds and as many as thousands participated in this most magical holiday truce.
There is something about this time of year that you can't pinpoint. It is something that you can't put your finger on. It is a spirit that is in the air. It is a spirit that begs you to forget differences, embrace those you love and even those you don't. It challenges you to give until you can't give anymore. Sometimes the cloud of challenges in life can spur a person to brush aside the undeniable feelings that are in the air at Christmas time. Too often the pressures of life can convince you the spirit of joy and giving are gone and that what you are sensing is nothing more than a coincidence of the time of year. In 1914, a handful of low ranking German soldiers knew that what they felt in their hearts about Christmas was true.
These men did not brush aside the impromptu feelings of peace and love for their fellow man. Instead, they lobbed a chocolate cake and a note of truce. I encourage you to allow yourself to be overcome this Christmas with the same spirit that took these soldiers captive almost a century ago. You may feel you are entrenched in some kind of your own personal battle. If so, allow yourself to be overwhelmed with the spirit of giving and joy and toss a chocolate cake out there. You just might be surprised at the outcome…

by Ron White

A Christmas Prayer for Lonely Folks

Lord God of the solitary,
Look upon me in my loneliness.
Since I may not keep this Christmas in the home,
Send it into my heart.

Let not my sins cloud me in,
But shine through them with forgiveness in the face of the child Jesus.
Put me in loving remembrance of the lowly lodging in the stable of Bethlehem,
The sorrows of the blessed Mary, the poverty and exile of the Prince of Peace.
For His sake, give me a cheerful courage to endure my lot,
And an inward comfort to sweeten it.

Purge my heart from hard and bitter thoughts.
Let no shadow of forgetting come between me and friends far away:
Bless them in their Christmas mirth:
Hedge me in with faithfulness,
That I may not grow unworthy to meet them again.

Give me good work to do,
That I may forget myself and find peace in doing it for Thee.
Though I am poor, send me to carry some gift to those who are poorer,
Some cheer to those who are more lonely.
Grant me the joy to do a kindness to one of Thy little ones:
Light my Christmas candle at the gladness of an innocent and grateful heart.

Strange is the path where Thou leadest me:
Let me not doubt Thy wisdom, nor lose Thy hand.
Make me sure that Eternal Love is revealed in Jesus, Thy dear Son,
To save us from sin and solitude and death.
Teach me that I am not alone,
But that many hearts, all round the world,
Join with me through the silence, while I pray in His name:

Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.
Amen.

Henry Van Dyke

Our Greatest Need

If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator;
If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist;
If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist;
If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer;
But our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent us a Saviour.

Source unknown

Jesus the Teacher

He never taught in the classroom.
He had no tools to work with, no blackboards, maps or charts.
He used no subject outlines, kept no records, gave no grades,
And his only text was ancient and well-worn.
His students were the poor, the lame, the deaf, the blind, the outcast
And his method was the same with all who came to hear and learn
He opened eyes with faith
He opened his ears with simple truth
And opened hearts with love, a love born of forgiveness
A gentle man, a humble man,
He asked and won no honours,
No gold awards of tribute to his expertise or wisdom.
And yet this quiet teacher from the hills of Galilee has fed the needs
Fulfilled the hopes
And changed the lives of many millions
For what he taught, brought heaven to earth
And God’s heart to all people.

(Source Unknown)

Our Spiritual Leaders

The Church as the body of Christ has many faces. The Church prays and worships. It speaks words of instruction and healing, cleanses us from our sins, invites us to the table of the Lord, binds us together in a covenant of love, sends us out to minister, anoints us when we are sick or dying, and accompanies us in our search for meaning and our daily need for support. All these faces might not come to us from those we look up to as our leaders. But when we live our lives with a simple trust that Jesus comes to us in our Church, we will see the Church's ministry in places and in faces where we least expect it.
If we truly love Jesus, Jesus will send us the people to give us what we most need. And they are our spiritual leaders.

- Henri Nouwen

The Faithful Saints

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 1:1 NRSV)
A five-year-old named Justin heard the story of the monk Simon the Stylite, who attained sainthood by sitting on a lofty pillar for forty years. The boy was intrigued with literally climbing closer to God, so he decided to imitate Simon. Placing the kitchen stool on top of the table, he climbed his precarious perch and began his journey to sainthood. His mother saw him and cried, "Justin get off that stool before you break something!" Justin jumped off his perch and marched out of the room saying, "You can't become a saint in your own home."
Paul called the Ephesians saints. It's easy to view some people as true saints - Mother Teresa or Billy Graham, for example. However, it's more difficult to comprehend that all believers (including you and me!) are saints in God's eyes. You don't have to stay perched on a lofty pillar to attain sainthood. A saint is simply a person who belongs to God and is set apart for Him. If Paul wrote a letter to you, a believer, he would call you a saint.

- Lenya Heitzig and Penny Pierce Rose "Pathway to God's Treasure: Ephesians"

Only One Student a Follower

S. I. McMillen, in his book None of These Diseases, tells a story of a young woman who wanted to go to college, but her heart sank when she read the question on the application blank that asked, "Are you a leader?"
Being both honest and conscientious, she wrote, "No," and returned the application, expecting the worst. To her surprise, she received this letter from the college: "Dear Applicant: A study of the application forms reveals that this year our college will have 1,452 new leaders. We are accepting you because we feel it is imperative that they have at least one follower."

I Fled Him

I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;
I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways
Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears
I hid from Him, and under running laughter.

Francis Thompson (1859-1907), from "The Hound of Heaven"

A Winning Attitude

It gives me great peace to know that no matter how good or how bad I do, the Lord loves me. That's all that really matters to me. Baseball isn't what everything is about. It's about the way I'm being a Christian husband, a Christian father, or the way I'm living my life and trying to be a Christian testimony to people.

- Andy Pettitte, Houston Astros pitcher, in "Sports Spectrum" magazine

Forgiving the Church

When we have been wounded by the Church, our temptation is to reject it. But when we reject the Church it becomes very hard for us to keep in touch with the living Christ. When we say, "I love Jesus, but I hate the Church," we end up losing not only the Church but Jesus too. The challenge is to forgive the Church. This challenge is especially great because the Church seldom asks us for forgiveness, at least not officially. But the Church as an often fallible human organisation needs our forgiveness, while the Church as the living Christ among us continues to offer us forgiveness.
It is important to think about the Church not as "over there" but as a community of struggling, weak people of whom we are part and in whom we meet our Lord and Redeemer.

- Henri Nouwen

Full Speed Astern

Fallen man is not simply an imperfect creature who needs improvement. He is a rebel who must lay down his arms. Laying down your arms, surrendering, saying you are sorry, realising that you have been on the wrong track and getting ready to start life over again from the ground floor - that is the only way out of a hole. This process of surrender - this movement full speed astern - is repentance.

- C. S. Lewis

The Authority of Compassion

The Church often wounds us deeply. People with religious authority often wound us by their words, attitudes, and demands. Precisely because our religion brings us in touch with the questions of life and death, our religious sensibilities can get hurt most easily. Ministers and priests seldom fully realise how a critical remark, a gesture of rejection, or an act of impatience can be remembered for life by those to whom it is directed.
There is such an enormous hunger for meaning in life, for comfort and consolation, for forgiveness and reconciliation, for restoration and healing, that anyone who has any authority in the Church should constantly be reminded that the best word to characterize religious authority is compassion. Let's keep looking at Jesus whose authority was expressed in compassion.

- Henri Nouwen

The Faith Of Rosa Parks

Most people know the story of the seamstress who helped ignite the civil-rights movement, but many people don't know that Rosa Parks [was] a devout Christian, and that it was her faith that gave her the strength to do what she did that day in 1955.
In her book, entitled "Quiet Strength", Parks says her belief in God developed early in life. "Every day before supper and before we went to services on Sundays," Parks says, "my grandmother would read the Bible to me, and my grandfather would pray. We even had devotions before going to pick cotton in the fields. Prayer and the Bible," she recalls, "became a part of my everyday thoughts and beliefs. I learned to put my trust in God and to seek Him as my strength."...
When your friends and children read about... Rosa Parks..., make sure they know about the unimpeachable Source of her quiet strength. Her brave, dignified example just might encourage them to seek out that same Source for themselves.

- Chuck Colson

On The Journey Towards Caring for Others

After being diagnosed with a brain tumor, my mother's health deteriorated gradually and for about seven long years my father was her primary care giver. The tasks grew tiring and tedious. She begged to be relegated to her bed and would use every conniving trick to lie down even though everyone knew she need more physical activity. And, the ordeal to get her to eat to nourish her body became a daily struggle. My father would anguish over trying to do all the doctors recommended and often felt a failure. However, he would get up each day with renewed effort and a firm resolve to try to prolong her life. I parallel that to how God must feel watching us destroy creation and one another in a world of war and poverty. Our gifts are so abundant and as intimate as our very breath. Any loved one always wants the best for the beloved and we are graced time and time again with all that we need to grow spiritually with one hand outstretched and the other behind our back. Each person in our world deserves a dedicated caregiver as faithful as God himself. Perhaps we are the reluctant hands that hold the power.

- Barbara Fuhrwerk

Are You Real?

The isolated individual is not a real person. A real person is one who lives in and for others. And the more personal relationships we form with others, the more we truly realise ourselves as persons. It has even been said that there can be no true person unless there are two, entering into communication with one another.
This idea of openness to others could be summed up under the word love. By love, I don’t mean merely an emotional feeling, but a fundamental attitude. In its deepest sense, love is the life, the energy, of God in us. We are not truly personal as long as we are turned in on ourselves, isolated from others. We only become personal if we face other persons, and relate to them.

- Kallistos Ware

Meeting Christ in the Church

Loving the Church does not require romantic emotions. It requires the will to see the living Christ among his people and to love them as we want to love Christ himself. This is true not only for the "little" people - the poor, the oppressed, the forgotten - but also for the "big" people who exercise authority in the Church.
To love the Church means to be willing to meet Jesus wherever we go in the Church. This love doesn't mean agreeing with or approving of everyone's ideas or behavior. On the contrary, it can call us to confront those who hide Christ from us. But whether we confront or affirm, criticise or praise, we can only become fruitful when our words and actions come from hearts that love the Church.

- Henri Nouwen

Or Let Me Die!

My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began;
So it is now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!
The Child is father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.

- William Wordsworth, "Intimations of Immortality"

Coming Home

Think not your work of no account
Although it may be small;
The Lord marks well your faithfulness --
He knows you gave your all.

An elderly missionary couple who had served God for 50 years in a remote African village returned to the United States for a well-earned retirement. When they arrived, however, no one was there to greet them because of some confusion at the mission office. They had no one to help them with their suitcases and trunks, and no one to move them into their home.
The old gentleman complained to his wife, "We've come home after all these years and there's no one who cares."
The man's bitterness grew as they settled into their new home. His wife, a bit fed up with his complaining, suggested that he take up the matter with God. So the man went to his bedroom and spent time in prayer. When he came out he had a new look on his face, which prompted his wife to ask what had happened. "Well," he replied, "I told God that I've come home and no one cares." "And what did God say?" she asked. He said, "You're not home yet."
You too may serve for years in a place where no one notices you or cares what you've done. But God sees and cares. One day, when we reach our eternal home, "each one's praise will come from God" (1 Corinthians 4:5). In the meantime, let's be faithful.

- David Roper

Loving the Church

Loving the Church often seems close to impossible. Still, we must keep reminding ourselves that all people in the Church - whether powerful or powerless, conservative or progressive, tolerant or fanatic - belong to that long line of witnesses moving through this valley of tears, singing songs of praise and thanksgiving, listening to the voice of their Lord, and eating together from the bread that keeps multiplying as it is shared. When we remember that, we may be able to say, "I love the Church, and I am glad to belong to it."
Loving the Church is our sacred duty. Without a true love for the Church, we cannot live in it in joy and peace. And without a true love for the Church, we cannot call people to it.

- Henri Nouwen

As the Sun at Noon

He brought light out of darkness, not out of a lesser light, and he can bring thee summer out of winter, though thou hast no spring. Though in the ways of fortune, understanding, or conscience thou hast been benighted till now, wintered and frozen, clouded and eclipsed, damped and benumbed, smothered and stupefied, now God comes to thee, not as the dawning of the day, not as the bud of the spring, but as the sun at noon.

- John Donne

Being in the Church, Not of It

Often we hear the remark that we have live in the world without being of the world. But it may be more difficult to be in the Church without being of the Church. Being of the Church means being so preoccupied by and involved in the many ecclesial affairs and clerical "ins and outs" that we are no longer focused on Jesus. The Church then blinds us from what we came to see and deafens us to what we came to hear. Still, it is in the Church that Christ dwells, invites us to his table, and speaks to us words of eternal love.
Being in the Church without being of it is a great spiritual challenge.

- Henri Nouwen

The Garden of the Saints

The Church is a very human organisation but also the garden of God's grace. It is a place where great sanctity keeps blooming. It is a place where great sanctity keeps blooming. Saints are people who make the living Christ visible to us in a special way. Some saints have given their lives in the service of Christ and his Church; others have spoken and written words that keep nurturing us; some have lived heroically in difficult situations; others have remained hidden in quiet lives of prayer and meditation; some were prophetic voices calling for renewal; others were spiritual strategists setting up large organisations or networks of people; some were healthy and strong; others were quite sick, and often anxious and insecure.
But all of them in their own ways lived in the Church as in a garden where they heard the voice calling them the Beloved and where they found the courage to make Jesus the center of their lives.

- Henri Nouwen

Wisdom from the Desert

The thought that the affairs of the world, like those of the stars, are in God's hands - and therefore in good hands - apart from being actually true, is something that should give great satisfaction to anyone who looks to the future with hope. It should be the source of faith, joyful hope, and, above all, of deep peace. What have I to fear if everything is guided and sustained by God? Why get so worried, as if the world were in the hands of me and my fellow men? And yet it is so difficult to hold onto faith...

- Carlo Carretto

The Church, God's People

As Jesus was one human person among many, the Church is one organisation among many. And just as there may have been people with more attractive appearances than Jesus, there may be many organisations that are a lot better run than the Church. But Jesus is the Christ appearing among us to reveal God's love, and the Church is his people called together to make his presence visible in today's world.
Would we have recognised Jesus as the Christ if we had met him many years ago? Are we able to recognise him today in his body, the Church? We are asked to make a leap of faith. If we dare to do it our eyes will be opened and we will see the glory of God.

- Henri Nouwen

Superabundant Grace

Over the centuries the Church has done enough to make any critical person want to leave it. Its history of violent crusades, pogroms, power struggles, oppression, excommunications, executions, manipulation of people and ideas, and constantly recurring divisions is there for everyone to see and be appalled by.
Can we believe that this is the same Church that carries in its centre the Word of God and the sacraments of God's healing love? Can we trust that in the midst of all its human brokenness the Church presents the broken body of Christ to the world as food for eternal life? Can we acknowledge that where sin is abundant grace is superabundant, and that where promises are broken over and again God's promise stands unshaken? To believe is to answer yes to these questions.

- Henri Nouwen

Asking The Right Questions

Let me suggest that the bad things that happen to us in our lives do not have a meaning when they happen to us. They do not happen for any good reason which would cause us to accept them willingly. But we can give them a meaning. We can redeem these tragedies from senselessness by imposing meaning on them. The question we should be asking is not, 'Why did this happen to me? What did I do to deserve this?' That is really an unanswerable, pointless question... We... need to get over the questions that focus on the past and on the pain. A better question would be, 'Now that this has happened to me, what am I going to do about it?'...
The facts of life and death are neutral. We, by our responses, give suffering either a positive or a negative meaning. Illness, accidents, human tragedies kill people. But they do not necessarily kill life or faith. If the death and suffering of someone we love makes us bitter, jealous, against all religion, and incapable of happiness, we turn the person who died into one of the 'devil's martyrs'. If suffering and death in someone close to us brings us to explore the limits of our capacity for strength and love and cheerfulness, if it leads us to discover sources of consolation we never knew before, then we make the person into a witness for the affirmation of life rather than its rejection.
This means... that there is one thing we can still do for those we loved and lost. We could not keep them alive. Perhaps we could not even significantly lessen their pain. But the one crucial thing we can do for them after their death is to let them be witnesses for God and for life, rather than, by our despair and loss of faith, making them 'the devil's martyrs'.

- Harold Kushner in "When Bad Things Happen to Good People"